LEONARDO EMPLOYEES RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS ELECTRONIC WARFARE AWARDS

Three Leonardo-Finmeccanica employees have received prestigious international awards this month for their work in the field of electronic warfare.

Two of the awards were presented by the Association of Old Crows (AOC), the world’s premier association of electronic warfare professionals, at their annual symposium in Washington, DC, while a third was conferred by the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS). Dr Clive Coleman has been inducted into the AOC Electronic Warfare Technology Hall of Fame, Phil Davies received the AOC’s Lifetime Service Award and Professor Steve Roberts received the RAeS 2016 Individual Specialist Silver Award. Leonardo is Europe’s leading producer of electronic warfare (EW) technology and services and is home to hundreds of EW experts who serve military customers around the world.

The Association of Old Crows’ Electronic Warfare Technology Hall of Fame recognises individuals who have been prime innovators in technology development and whose achievements have resulted in the enhanced survivability of forces and equipment. Dr Clive Coleman has been at Leonardo for over 35 years, during which time he has worked on numerous electronic warfare products including the company’s Helicopter Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (HIDAS) which has protected UK forces in Afghanistan and been exported internationally. Clive, who is the company’s Chief Technologist for Electro-Optical EW systems, is currently working on future defensive aids suite technology and is an active member of several NATO panels.
The AOC’s Lifetime Service Award recognises members who have rendered exemplary sustained service to the electronic warfare community. Phil Davies started his electronic warfare career with the Royal Air Force as an Air Electronics Officer, logging more than 5000 flying hours on Nimrod, Vulcan B2 & K2, Victor K2, Canberra T17 and over 20 other aircraft types. Phil then went on to work at the UK Ministry of Defence’s electronic warfare centre at RAF Waddington before taking other EW-focused roles with the MOD. He currently works at Leonardo’s Airborne and Space Systems division where he helps to market the company’s life-saving electronic warfare products and solutions. Recently, Phil volunteered for the ‘Vulcan to the Sky’ project and was part of a crew that flew the historic Vulcan XH558 at a number of UK air shows including on its final flight, helping inspire future air crews and engineers.
The Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) is the world’s only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community, with its Individual Specialist Silver Award recognising exceptional work that has led to significant advances in and contributions to the aerospace industry. Professor Steve Roberts, who is currently Strategy Director for Leonardo Airborne & Space Systems, has worked in the field for over 40 years on platform protection for aircraft including Tornado, Harrier, Apache and Typhoon. In addition to his role at Leonardo, Steve is Visiting Professor in EW Systems at Cranfield University and the Defence Academy of the UK. The RAeS award recognises Steve’s work in electronic warfare as having had a significant impact upon UK research and development strategy, operational tactics and countermeasures techniques and on the wider EW and survivability-related body of knowledge. Steve was inducted into the AOC’s Electronic Warfare Technology Hall of Fame in 2014 and also received a Commendation from the UK Chapter of AOC.
Leonardo’s electronic warfare portfolio includes individual sensors and countermeasures as well as fully integrated defensive aids suites. The company’s more than 100 years of experience in the domain means that Leonardo also has the expertise to offer a dedicated Electronic Warfare Operational Support (EWOS) facility. EWOS can help customers get significantly more capability out of open EW systems like those provided by Leonardo than closed systems sold by some competitors.
Leonardo leads the EuroDASS consortium that provides the defensive aids suite for the Eurofighter Typhoon and protects a number of UK and international helicopters with its defensive aids suites. The company’s latest products include the SEER radar warner, the SAGE electronic surveillance measure, the Miysis Directed Infra-Red Counter Measure (DIRCM) and BriteCloud, the world’s first test-proven disposable RF decoy for fast jets.